Ongoing Project

Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of Solid Fuel Blending in NTPC’s Thermal Power Plants

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Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of Solid Fuel Blending in NTPC’s Thermal Power Plants

NTPC is leading India’s shift toward cleaner energy by blending coal with biomass and waste-derived fuels. This reduces greenhouse gas emissions, enhances energy security, and supports the National Bio-Energy Programme. Under the Revised Biomass Policy, thermal power plants must achieve 5–7% biomass co-firing by 2024–26. NTPC has already commercialized up to 6% agro-residue-based co-firing and recently reached 20% torrefied biomass co-firing at its Tanda plant in Uttar Pradesh.

While technical and emission benefits are documented, the socio-economic impacts, like rural employment, income generation, and community health, remain underexplored. This project aims to fill this research gap and evaluate the broader benefits of solid fuel blending.

Outreach

Objectives

This project focuses on assessing the socio-economic impacts of solid fuel blending in NTPC's plants and developing policy recommendations informed by socio-economic evidence and global best practices.

To assess the socio-economic and health impacts of biomass co-firing in NTPC plants.

Evaluate the feasibility of cow dung-biomass blends in the Indian context by assessing their technical performance and economic viability.

Conduct a global review of biomass co-firing practices to derive policy advocacy and best practices that can be adapted to strengthen NTPC’s strategy in India.

Propose actionable recommendations, with emphasis on socially inclusive and community-centered policy measures.

Methodology

To evaluate the socio-economic and environmental impacts of biomass co-firing at NTPC, we developed the BLEND (Balancing Lives, Emissions, and National Development) framework, a seven-stage, indicator-based approach tailored to India’s thermal power sector. It combines best practices from international frameworks like EIA, LCSA, and SDG assessments, while addressing local technical, economic, and social realities. The framework covers scoping and indicator selection, baseline modelling, data gap analysis, primary research with stakeholders, scenario-based impact assessment, validation through triangulation, and finally, actionable mitigation strategies and policy recommendations.